Friday, February 24, 2006

We stopped at the nursing home tonight to see my mother. Lately, she has sat in her wheelchair very placidly so I was somewhat startled to see her carefully smoothing out bedtime supplies on her bed. I stood in the doorway for several moments watching her and wondering what she was doing as she carefully arranged a protective bed pad and over that a fully-opened adult diaper.

When I put my hand on her shoulder and she turned around to see me, she smiled and said, “I was thinking about you tonight. I had to make a bed and I thought I should call Lillian and have her help me.”

Then I realized that in her world, that was what she was doing---making a bed, just like she had done a million times before old age had crept in and stole so much of her mind.